Road work ahead, MWC file photo.
STEVENS POINT, WI (WSAU-WAOW) – City leaders are calling for cooler heads to prevail in Stevens Point, as a petition making the rounds is asking for major changes to how construction projects in the city move forward.
“It just kind of finally reached that point where I felt I needed to say something,” Mayor Mike Wizatold WAOW-TV.
Wiza took to the city’s website Tuesday, posting a more than 2,000-word statement, outlining his stance on where talks have gone regarding a proposed construction project on Business 51 in the city.
“I can’t stress enough that this is not a partisan issue, but some people are trying to make it that way,” Wiza said, adding people have not been listening to each other in discourse on the topic in recent months.
Meanwhile, people like Kevin Flatoff have been looking to incite change, since the current proposal would impact several driveways of businesses on that road; he owns Faltoff’s Gold Key Motors on that road.
“The whole time, all we’ve wanted is a voice,” Flatoff said.
After a call for a referendum fell through last month, he’s petitioning for different action. “The only way we could make anything binding with the city is to create a law that’s going to hold them accountable for projects over a million dollars,” Flatoff said.
Wiza says developments should not have gotten to the point where forming a petition in the nature it’s being done is an option. “I think we could have avoided this whole petition to referendum if we would have been a little more willing to not only try to understand the problem, but work towards reasonable solutions,” he said.
As for what’s next, this complicated issue will continue to have its arguments, but there’s a lot of conversation ahead.
“If the people say they want a road diet, I can live with that,” Flatoff said.
“I hope that we as a community take to heart those comments that I said earlier: sit down, listen, understand the concerns, and try to find a solution. There may not be a solution, but we need to try,” Wiza said.
The next Stevens Point common council meeting is on Monday.
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